The Attack on Brauros, a fictional15mm Hail Caesar battle. Persians attack Sparta again.

 

The Persian attack on Brauros 480BC. June 2022

a second fictional clash between Sparta and Persia

We played the first game a few months back and used the simple campaign rules from the first game for random events etc, see The War Crow: The Battle of the Temple, 15mm Hail Caesar

Having won the Battle for the Temple the Persians push on deeper into Spartan controlled Lakonia. The Persian Satrap Artabazus now plans to attack the Spartan town of Brauros that spans the road towards Sparta itself. Brauros is guarded by the local Helots who have sent to Sparta for help. As the Persians deploy to assault Brauros they can see the rapidly advancing Spartan main force led by Brasidas himself.

Thalia: the Seeress was captured by the Persians during the first battle. Interpreting the flight of birds to aid her prophecies the Persians throw a d6 before deployment...

1-2: Thalia's powers or Prophecy will allow the Persians to deploy after the Spartan main force.

3-4: Thalia can use her powers to allow one Persian commander a +1 Leadership bonus as long as Thalia is within 3” of them.

5-6: CURSE! Thalia casts a powerful curse on one of the Spartan command figures. The Persians can make this Spartan re-throw any one set of Leadership order dice.

Deployment:

1: Spartans deploy one unit of Helot unarmoured Hoplites plus a unit of skirmishers within the small town of Brauros. (under the command of a local captain Iasonas, Ld:7)

2: The Persians deploy upto 12” in from the Northern table edge.

3: The Spartan main force now deploys along the Southern table edge.

Both sides then dice for Initiative.

Objectives: Both sides must try to defeat the other whilst gaining control of Brauros. The Spartans may also wish to try to capture Thalia back .

With the number of players down for this game, Ian took on the role of commanding all the Spartans under Brasidas himself. I was Artabazus commanding the Persians supported by Datis (Phil). 

Spartan Sub-Commander Iasonas deploys in the village with the Helots and skirmishers. 

Persians deploy on the left and the Spartans on the right. Using our simple campaign rules the Persian missile units were classed as 'well supplied'  which we marked with red beads. Once a Persian unit had used it's extra missile dice we removed the bead. 

Another close up of the village, just before the Persians shot the skirmishers to pieces. . 

A rare shot of an actual living Spartan Commander. The Spartans lost all 3 command figures through melee or shooting, some of them twice, thus reducing their Leadership capability. 

The two sides both do a cautious advance. 

The Persians advance, making good use of their missile superiority early on. 

The Persian right flank, looking good...but not for long. 

Good command throws allowed the Spartans to claim the hill by the ruined temple. Persian missile fire was particularly effective here prompting the Spartiates to charge down from the hill. They routed Persians mercenary hoplites, the marines and the Assyrian levy leading to the collapse of that Persian division.  

On the other flank, Phil commanded our cavalry force who played Havoc with the Spartan advance. 

The Persian cavalry routed the whole Spartan light cavalry/infantry division quite early on, putting the Persians in a commanding position. 

Brasidas, the Spartan General got shot early on and the reduced leadership of his successor meant that two units of hoplites hardly got to move at all and played very little role in the game. This allowed Phil's cavalry to dominate the left flank. 

Elsewhere it was a really close fought battle which could have gone either way.  

Dice throw of the game: Ian needed to score 4+ saves on 7 dice and look what he threw!

Next turn the Persian Sparabara unit finally defeated the Helots, and after making a successful Rally roll, claimed the village and the game. 

Using our campaign rules, Brasidas is so badly injured he has to miss the last battle and the whole Spartan Leadership will be reduced. This was another great game which either side could have won. Now the Persians will march on towards Sparta for a final deciding Battle. 

Finally, having seen Ian's painted 10mm Indians recently I decided to get an army of 10mm Macedonian/Successor figures to put up against them. I chose the Lancashire Games Little Wars range which is mainly Greeks with a few Successor elephants at the moment but the range will be hopefully added too soon. I have started off with painting one of the lovely elephant figures with two more almost finished on my painting table. I have added some skirmishers with javelins to the base to show the supporting skirmishers that often operated with elephants in this era. 

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